My husband and I were playing cards with my mother this past weekend. As we played, we listened to country and western songs. A song would come up and I would ask my mom who sings that song? Mom would reply with the singer’s name and most of the time, she would tell us interesting facts about the singer and their life. This went on for hours. At one point, my mom said, ‘there isn’t too much I don’t know about the country and western singers of my time. I don’t know too much about the new ones today though.’

The next day I became aware of what was going on for me! It was like I had been testing my mom! I started to think about how smart my mom was. She is brilliant when it comes to the country and western singers of her time. I might add she is also brilliant when it comes to the Royal Family. With those thoughts I wondered why my dad couldn’t see how smart she was. Growing up I often heard my dad tell my mom she was stupid.

My awareness has expanded in a beautiful loving way. All of a sudden I had a greater appreciation for my mother’s brilliance. I notice I ask her more questions and take time to actually listen! Sounds awful to say! I can’t say that is totally different for me. I can say I am now more conscious for these different thoughts and feelings.

I continued to be with my thoughts and realized it was like I was trying to ‘prove’ my mom wasn’t stupid; she was very much smart! That surprised me! I started to have overwhelming love for her.

Have you ever experienced anything like that? Were you raised to believe things about your family members and later in life come to learn differently? Do you experience you continue to ‘label’ certain family members as being something they no longer are? Maybe you experience doing that in other relationships! It would be wonderful to hear from you.

It was and continues to be a huge gift to be in a place where I can see my mother with much more grace than I could before. Personally I feel we are always rewarded for doing our inner work!